GUESS WHAT?!!! Due to overwhelming demand, we are happy to announce a second reading/Q&A with Patrick Rothfuss on Thursday, March 3, 2011.

It’s going to be MIDNIGHT MADNESS! A midnight reading and booksigning will be held at Borderlands Cafe (870 Valencia St., between 19th & 20th Streets), San Francisco 94110. This event will take place shortly after the SF in SF reading.

This event is strictly first come, first seated. There will be some standing room and, once the cafe is at capacity, you can hang out at the bookstore ’til Pat starts signing. Then you will be invited over to get your books signed. Pat will sign two books per person. If you want more, you’ll need to get back in line, and you may or may not be able to get additional books signed beyond the first two. (Pat does have to catch a plane in the morning.)

There is no need to RSVP for this event and NO seats will be reserved. Books will be on sale next door at Borderlands Books (866 Valencia St.)

If you don’t have a seat at the SF in SF event at Variety (at this time all seats there are spoken for), we strongly suggest that you come to this event instead. Due to time constraints, we cannot guarantee that you will be able to get your books signed at the SF in SF event unless you have a seat for the reading.

For more details, or to reserve a book at Borderlands, please call the bookstore (415.824.8203) or email office@borderlands-books.com. All your other questions should be answered on the Tour FAQ on Pat’s blog: http://tinyurl.com/tourfaq. For questions about the SF in SF event, please email Rina Weisman at sfinsfevents@gmail.com.

We’re sorry for any inconvenience and for the short notice for this event. This was only planned in the last two days in response to much greater interest in seeing Pat that anyone expected (including Pat!). We all appreciate your support and interest – next time, SF in SF will rent out AT&T Park for Pat! 😉

Thank you so much for your interest in attending the SF in SF event with authors Patrick Rothfuss and Gail Carriger!   Alas, seating is no longer available for the March 3, 2011 reading & Q&A portion of the evening.

BUT ALL IS NOT LOST!! After discussion with Patrick Rothfuss himself, we are happy to welcome you to come and get your books signed, and meet Patrick & Gail afterwards (about 9PM)!

Event attendees will receive priority in line, but you may either bring your own books, or purchase a book at the event from Borderlands Books (subject to availability).  There is no need to RSVP for the signing line, and there will be a limit of 4 books per person at a time.  Just show up (and maybe wear comfortable shoes!).

You may also preorder books, have a signed copy shipped to you, or purchase a signed copy after the event, by contacting Borderlands Books at 415.824.8203.

This event takes place at:

The Variety Preview Room Theatre
The Hobart Bldg., 1st Floor
582 Market Street at 2nd & Montgomery – entrance to bldg. is between Quiznos & Citibank
San Francisco, CA 94104
Phone – 415-572-1015
Email – sfinsfevents@gmail.com

DON’T DRIVE:  Parking is terrible at the best of times in San Francisco.  We highly suggest you take public transportation – the Montgomery Street BART/MUNI is adjacent to our front door.  If you must drive, here is a list of parking garages ($3.50/hr) in the area We suggest either the 4th & Mission or the Moscone Center as being closest.

But wait!  There’s more!  SF in SF brings science fiction and fantasy authors and films to San Francisco every month – visit our website at www.sfinsf.org.  It’s first come, first seated, and open to the public. Enjoy meeting your favorite authors throughout the year!

All events with SF in SF benefit Variety Children’s Charity of Northern California – learn more at www.varietync.org

Thank you again for your interest – I’m sorry we weren’t able to accomodate you this time.  Any questions may also be directed to sfinsfevents@gmail.com.

Due to anticipated heavy attendance the Thursday March 3rd reading featuring Patrick Rothfuss and Gail Carriger will be RSVP ONLY.

You can RSVP for up to two people ONLY. Email their names to March32011@gmail.com to secure your seats for the reading/Q & A. You MUST include the full names of both people attending. Seating is limited, and RSVPs will only be taken via that email address. You will receive a verification email from Rina to print out and bring as your “ticket.”

A $5 donation at the door benefits Variety Children’s Charity.

Once the event seating is full, we will be running a waiting list; you will be notified if you are put on the waiting list or if the event is sold out.

This event takes place at: The Variety Preview Room Theatre, The Hobart Bldg., 1st Floor, 582 Market at 2nd & Montgomery, San Francisco, CA 94104
Door open 6:00PM, Readings begin 7:00PM

The book signing after the event will be open to all. If you just have books to be signed, please arrive at 9PM. Ticket holders receive priority for signing. Borderlands Books will also have signed books to sell at their store after the event. If you have any questions, please ask them in comments below.

We have a change of plan for next week’s movie night. Sandy Collora, the director of Hunter Prey, kindly offered to come along and talk about his film. So we are switching the schedule a little. We won’t be showing Inception (don’t worry, we’ll have it another month) and are replacing it with Sandy’s other smash hit, Batman: Dead End. That will give Sandy plenty of time to talk and answer questions about both films.

This is a one-of-a-kind event — we promise you won’t be disappointed! Come ask the director about filmmaking, good old-fashioned thrilling science fiction, Comic-Con, and what’s it like to be an auteur!

Both films knocked ’em dead at Comic-Con!! This is professional fan filmmaking taken to a high art, with a great plot, creativity and lots of science fiction (not to mention the amazing weapon and costume designs). Film director and comic book writer Kevin Smith called Batman: Dead End “possibly the truest, best Batman movie ever made”, and comic book artist Alex Ross praised it as “Batman the way I’ve always wanted to see him.” IO9.com was an early enthusiastic supporter, and garnered a choice interview with Sandy prior to the release of Hunter Prey — read it here in its entirety. DVDtalk.com points out that “At the very least, “Hunter Prey” will entertain you, but it will also remind you beyond the big budget Hollywood excess, there are still those willing to break their backs to get their vision on the big (or small) screen.” AND AND AND for you Gen-Xers out there, actress Erin Gray gives a classy performance as the voice of the computer!

And did we mention the free popcorn??? So yeah, you want to come to this! We’ll see you there!

Doors and cash bar open at 6PM
Event begins at 7PM
Suggested donation $5 at the door or bar, benefiting Variety Children’s Charity
Seating is limited; first come, first seated.

This event takes place at:

Variety Preview Room Theatre
The Hobart Bldg., 1st Floor – entrance between Quizno’s & Citibank
582 Market Street at 2nd & Montgomery
San Francisco, CA 94104

DON’T DRIVE – Montgomery Street BART is adjacent to our front door, and parking sucks in San Francisco.

SATURDAY FEB. 12

ANNE HARRIS / PEARL NORTH / JESSICA FREELY
&
LUCY BLEDSOE

Doors and cash bar open at 6:00PM
Event start at 7:00PM
Borderlands Books will be selling before, during and after the authors readings

Each author will read a selection from their work; after a short break, author Terry Bisson will moderate audience Q&A with the authors, followed by schmoozing and booksigning in the lounge.

ANNE HARRIS is the author of the science fiction novels, Accidental Creatures (1998), which won the first Spectrum Award for a science fiction novel dealing with LGBT characters, themes and issues, and The Nature of Smoke (1996), shortlisted in translation for the 2007 Japanese Sense of Gender Award and Inventing Memory, published in 2004. Currently Harris writes under two pseudonyms. As Pearl North she published Libyrinth in 2009. It is the first volume in a young adult science fiction trilogy. The second in the series, The Boy From Ilysies comes out in November 2010, and the third book to come is titled The Book of the Night. Under the pen name Jessica Freely, Harris has written numerous m/m erotic romance ebooks since 2008. She posts free fiction and writes about epublishing, the female gaze, and other related topics on her blog, Friskbiskit. Harris also teaches in Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction MFA program.

Pearl North’s Libyrinth features the wonderful character of Haly, who has heard the voices of books for as long as she can remember; growing up in the Libyrinth, she has been surrounded by words and stories her entire life. When the Libyrinth’s mortal enemies, the illiterate Singers, discover her unique ability, they are determined to use her to destroy her home forever. The Boy From Ilysies, focuses on the struggles of two groups of people once alienated from one another by their beliefs, and now united in an effort to create a thriving community of both Singers and Libyrarians. North has created that rare thing: a second book in a series that is stronger than the first.

Libyrinth by Pearl North has been included in the list of Recommended Titles for 2011 by The Amelia Bloomer Project:

“As we honor strong, powerful girls and the books that inspire them, the Amelia Bloomer Project celebrates 2010, a year that has sounded a call to action for multiple generations of feminists to work together and reflected diversity of culture and format.”

LUCY BLEDSOE is a novelist and science writer who writes both fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults with a focus on LGBT literature. Bledsoe has traveled to Antarctica three times and written two books about Antarctica, How to Survive in Antarctica and The Ice Cave: A Woman’s Adventures from the Mojave to the Antarctic. Bledsoe has stayed at all three American stations in Antarctica, as well as in field camps where scientists are studying penguins, climate change, and the Big Bang.

About her current novel, The Big Bang Symphony; A Novel of Antarctica: “Lucy Jane Bledsoe knows that the people who go to Antarctica move to a heightened existence, as if to the roof of the universe, where they are stripped to their essences under a surreal sun. A beautiful novel about living in that extreme space, vivid and suspenseful.” — Kim Stanley Robinson, award-winning author of Antarctica, Red Mars, and the Science in the Capital trilogy.

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, she started writing when young, and earned her B.A. at University of California at Berkeley in 1979. She is the recipient of the 2009 Sherwood Anderson Prize for Fiction, the 2009 Arts & Letters Fiction Prize, a California Arts Council Fellowship, an ALA Stonewall Award for Working Parts, and two National Science Foundation Artists & Writers in Antarctica Fellowships. Besides writing, Bledsoe is a CD-ROM script writer for National Geographic and several other educational organizations, such as the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

The Variety Preview Room Theatre
The Hobart Bldg., 1st Floor — entrance between Quiznos and Citibank
582 Market Street @ 2nd and Montgomery
San Francisco, CA 94104

DON’T DRIVE — BART/MUNI Montgomery Street station is right at our front door, and parking in San Francisco sucks!!! Street parking ($3.50 per hour) is metered M-Sat., til 6PM; find a parking garage here

Apologies everyone, we have had to change the date of the February movie night. It will now be on Wednesday 16th. We hope you can all still come.

Here’s some more advance warning of upcoming events. Mark your calendars.

• Wednesday February 9th 16th
• Inception
• Hunter Prey
• Wednesday March 9th
• Megamind
• Galaxy Quest

A brand-new convention has arrived in San Francisco. FOGcon (“Friends of Genre” Con) is scheduled for March 11-13, 2011, so now’s the time to buy your membership. It’s a literary-themed San Francisco SF/F con in the tradition of Wiscon and Readercon, with Honored Guests ranging from writers to scientists to artists. We will build community, exchange ideas, and share our love for the literature of imagination.

For 2011, the inaugural guests are Pat Murphy and Jeff and Ann Vandermeer, with Fritz Leiber as the Ghost of Honor.

Potlatch is an all-volunteer, nonprofit, literary event for the readers and writers of speculative fiction. At Potlatch, people talk to each other and participate in panel discussions about reading and writing speculative fiction. You’ll find conversations at the program events, in Algonquins (spontaneous member-generated programming), in writers workshops, in the consuite, in the halls, and in elevators. Each year, Potlatch donates proceeds to literacy and literary organizations, including Clarion West — an intensive six-week workshop for writers who are preparing for professional careers in science fiction and fantasy.

Potlatch 20 will be held at the Domain Hotel in Sunnyvale, California during the weekend of March 4 – 6, 2011. Registration is now open (through Paypal or by mail). The general membership rate is currently $55, so register now! To get an idea what Potlatch discussions are like, check out these links to past Potlatch panels and Books of Honor.

We now have firm line-ups for February and March as follows:

• Saturday February 12: Anne Harris, Pearl North, Jessica Freely & Lucy Bledsoe
• Thursday March 3: Patrick Rothfuss & Gail Carriger
• Monday, March 14: Jeff & Ann VanderMeer

If you are wondering why we have four readers in February, it is because the many-talented Anne Harris has not one, but two, alter egos. We are proud to welcome all three of her.

And why are we having two readings in March? Because we have two (yes two!) conventions in the Bay Area in March. Check out the next two posts for more information.